AV News 175 - February 2009
Since “going digital” in 2006, using the possibilities this gives to produce
more satisfying presentations, I challenged myself to make “Arctic Dreams”.
I had been giving occasional presentations/talks (using PowerPoint) about
my expeditions to Svalbard and was invited to make one to my former company
during a cultural evening in December 2007. A colleague who knew I was
toying with the idea of arranging my pictures to music challenged me to use
pictures from my Greenland trip together with his favourite track "Innocent" from
PUST's latest CD. The group, performing at the same cultural evening, would
then sing to my pictures projected onto a large screen. I had about one week in
which to do this. I had never heard their music before but thought this an
interesting challenge. This was the start of my AV presentations. I then heard
Knut Nystedt's music a week later and decided that it caught the magic and
mystery of Svalbard so decided to try to make a show using this music.
However, I now found that Powerpoint was clumsy to work with and the
transitions not very satisfactory. Just by chance I came across a mention of
PicturesToExe on a photographic web site. So in February 2008 I decided to
convert to PTE and improve these shows, along with others. Based on the initial
"Arctic Dreams" I now have a full version that lasts about 60 minutes.
I have been an amateur photographer for over 40
years with varying degrees of success, having
slides accepted by the Royal Scottish Salon in 1971
and 1972. I moved to Norway in 1973 and have
been captivated by the Arctic since my first summer
vacation in Svalbard in 1989 and have now spent
ten summer vacations there, sailing, camping or on
an adventure cruise round the complete
archipelago. This fascination with the Arctic has
also included the lesser known south eastern part
of Greenland which I have visited on three occasions, the latest being on an
adventure cruise in 2007. And this does not include my visits to northern
Norway, for example the wonderful Lofoten Islands!
Based on my latest photographic work from Svalbard, my most recent
success has been the publication in Norway, of a quality book of almost 200
photographs of the archipelago, which I called “Svalbard Impressions”. It is in
hardback format (23 x 21 cm - ISBN 978-82-307-0007-5) with high quality
colour printing and in five languages: Norwegian, English, German, French and
Italian, covering key features of Svalbard in seven “photo essays”.
Each essay presents impressions of
themes, for example Sky and Sea;
Nature’s Art; Walruses and Polar Bears;
many of them with unique pictures.
The Norwegian publisher Centrum
Norsk Forlag has a comprehensive
presentation of images from the book on
their website.
http://centrumforlag.no/files/extras/3/sv
albard-impressions-dummy.pdf
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